For the longest time, I am pondering about The Secret World, but got turned away by monthly fee thing. Now that it's one payment only, it looks a lot more alluring... However, I gave up on every single MMO I have ever tried previously - too grindy quests, no storyline, time sinks were the main reasons. I do hear that The Secret World is a lot better in these departments. Opinions? And can you solo it?

It's fantastic in all those departments. The highlight is the Investigation mission type, which revolves entirely around solving puzzles using in-game and real-world research- no grind, rarely any combat, loads of fun. It's got an incredible atmosphere, loads of background detail and a superb plot.

I don't like MMOs either, but TSW is an incredible game all round. If you want, PM me your email address and I can give you a free trial (full disclosure: if you buy the game after using said trial, I get free stuff in game.)

I like it pretty well but never got that far:/ It is not fun by myself:( If I had someone to play with I might still play it. I think that you would like it though.
I think the story is pretty good along with good cutscenes for the main missions.
Doing the investigative mission and using the in game browser is pretty fun too!
the only issues I have is its hard(to me) soloing and the combat is just ok not bad or awesome.

It is pretty unique with it's puzzles, the way they are incorporated into an MMO, some of the puzzles are absolutely bonkers and the game has an internet search function for this reason, but yeah, some of the puzzles are horrid.

The atmosphere is great, if you are a King fan especially,

Combat is a bit shite to be honest, but there are many class mix permutations to keep it fresh. But you will get really bored of circle straffing.

Game has a bizarre healing system, its hard to describe, but eg. damage applied to a target heals you if you use assault rifles.

I got as far as Egypt and lost the will to live.

Some freaky RP'rs there, really creeped me out.

Guilds, well I played a month or so, solo, joined a guild to take my game further, for healing at raids, 2-3 weeks later I was still playing solo, the game is old and guild members are either bored and don't log in too much any more, or are to high level to bother teaming, or running alts very quickly through quests, so you get no real atmosphere cos they race through the content with you.

I'm mostly aiming at soloing, because... Pff, people :-P

But...I was going to convince you to journey with me.
:'(

I found a trial some weekend and it's too much close to regular MMOs even if this one happens to be better than most. I didn't try too many puzzles but based on BlackMageJ's description it sounds rather enjoyable.

Does it have that stupid rule when you kite an enemy and they leave their "territory" or something they "reset" and respawn with full health?

I tried it and didn't like it, at all. Maybe it's just that I'm not really into the conspiracy theme but all the quests and stuff did nothing for me and the gameplay is really shit. It's Tab Targeting at it's worst and harkens back to the days when everyone was trying to be the next Everquest and everyone and their dog made a shitty entry to the MMO genre that no one played since they were expensive to play and just plain tedious.

I dunno, I just couldn't get into the plot and I've played second rate Korean FTP games with better gameplay. At least wait for a good sale, it's really not worth laying down cash for.

Good thread. I pondered it for a while but like others stayed away because of the sub. Now that it's not, I'd definitely like to check it out. Thanks for the reminder!

I didn't find it grindy. Quests are repeatable (but have a time limit so it makes you actively seek out other quests instead of spamming one or two for XP)

Investigative quests are amazing

It has a great storyline IMHO. Plus being set in our time it adds new flavour, especially seeing it's conspiracy related

Any game can be a time sink if you let it. I play TSW every couple of months or so (cause I play everything else too >_> ) and don't have any problems

I personally have solo'd everything so far

EDIT: you have mail

I'm likely the minority here, but the only notable thing I can say about Secret World is that it was the worst experience I have ever had with a game, worse even that Saints Row 2.

I'm sure it plays rather well if you manage to get that far. But after a mammoth 72+ hour download attempt, with it wiping progress right near the end several times, I have never wanted to try again. The download/patching of the client was appalling. I suppose if you're lucky enough to live in a region where it's sold on Steam, you can negate a chunk of that. But for me, the damage is done. I will never attempt to play that ever again. I can only be happy in the fact I got it cheap in a sale. I'd be extremely pissed if I'd paid more for it.

If that's what you like to do, that's cool.

They have a skill system where (afaik) initially you can get the skills you need up to 10, to get your skills higher, you have to do Raids to get gear commensurate with your higher skill level. But, you can get yours akills up to 10 on the first island, the problem is getting gear commensurate with that 10 cos outside of raids the gear is pretty crap, you can go to the AH, but afaik the best is raid only.

The raids are good, but you will be in PUG's (if you are only soloing), so you will be raiding with noobs and the clusterfucks that entails, or with seasoned pros that will rush through the instances killing the atmosphere.

I played it for a couple of months and definitely got my moneys worth (even subbed for one month, cos I thought I would stay on). Hope you enjoy it though, its a very unique game :)

You never know until you try right ? :)

Studying the art of necromancy I see. I must warn you that you are dealing with dark forces.

Somehow, i am experiencing something like "The secret world" in real life, so i must lay down the MMO stuff. Plus as any other MMO, it needs up a LOT of time (probably).